This is a United States National stage entry which claims the benefit of PCT/US2014/32025 filed Mar. 27, 2014 which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/805,909, filed Mar. 27, 2013 entitled “BIOREACTORS AND USES THEREOF,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
A goal in the field of tissue and organ regeneration is to be able to grow body parts that can be used for transplantation into individuals in order to treat different medical conditions that are associated with organ or tissue disease, aging, failure, and/or injury. The growth of artificial organs and tissues in vitro has been studied for many years. Significant progress has been made in the research context towards an understanding of the biological and physiological processes that are associated with the regeneration of tissues and organs from cellular preparations. Examples of several basic organ models or partial organs have been cultured in vitro, including models of lung and liver, using bioreactors. Bioreactors have also been used to culture and study organs obtained from a subject or cadaver ex vivo.